This was anything but a typical ‘Day 0’ – no vacuuming, no cleaning bathrooms, didn’t even have to shovel the walks.

That’s because we weren’t home. This trip actually started a week ago on Christmas day. Here’s the schedule:

12/25 – Quiet Christmas with dinner at Brad and Lily’s (both Carl and Jessica were in town).

12/26 – Drive to Beaverton where we were to meet Kim and family at the airport and schlep their luggage while they rode the Max to Jen’s house.

12/27-1/1 Fun and Frolic with the Marshall-Binghams and the Hunts, culminating in Asher’s birthday on the first.

1/2 – Fly to San Juan, board the cruise, sit back with a tall fruity rum drink (umbrella and such) and enjoy a week hop-scotching across the Caribbean Island chain.

Here’s the actual:

12/25 – Over breakfast I pulled up the Oregon Road Report. We had been watching it with some trepidation for the past week, so when it looked like we had a clear shot over the Blues we took it. We were packed and gone in just over an hour. We stopped just long enough to deliver pies to Brad’s and made excellent time to Beaverton.

12/26 – 12/31 Pretty much as scheduled. There was snow off and on thru the week so the kids had a great time – and we didn’t need to drive up to Mt. Hood to let them get cold and wet.

1/1 – Asher’s Birthday, COVID testing, Final prep: We showed up at the testing sight for our 10:00 appointment and were told that due to a medical emergency they wouldn’t be opening until noon. We could wait, come back, or head to their testing site downtown. We chose to head downtown – arriving 40 minutes before that center opened at 11:00. They eventually did, and the long line of cars slowly moved thru the process. We actually got swabbed at 12:05. From there we grabbed a burger and headed home to the party – during which we got the text that our flight had been cancelled. A quick call to Viking and while the nice lady was trying to get us rebooked we got a text from Delta telling us that they had booked us on the same flight she was trying to get for us. So that’s progress. Back to the party, then checked in to our flight. There’s goodness here – we get to sleep a half hour longer in the morning (till 3:50). The other news is that we route thru JFK (not my first choice) and we don’t have seat assignments for the Portland – JFK leg. We’ll see how that plays out in the morning.

So here we are, sitting in a hotel room at the airport, trying to think of everything we’ve forgotten in the rush, and thankful for everyone who has worked so hard to get us to this point. We promise, in return, to thoroughly enjoy our trip (and to try to stay healthy).

I promise, future posts will be less wordy and more visual. Until then, Happy New Year!